The Calgary Wranglers and Tucson Roadrunners kick off a two-game series this weekend for just their second series of the 2022-23 season. They haven’t played each other since November and the season record sits at a win and a loss on each side. The Wranglers are the favourites this weekend sitting at the top spot in the Pacific. The Roadrunners sit at seventh in the Pacific. This series continues the Wranglers&#8217; road trip before they return home next weekend.

<h2>Projected lineups</h2>
Calgary
Dryden Hunt &#8211; Ben Jones &#8211; Matthew Phillips 
Emilio Pettersen &#8211; Connor Zary &#8211; Cole Schwindt 
Brett Sutter &#8211; Kevin Rooney &#8211; Clark Bishop 
Mitch McLain &#8211; Adam Klapka &#8211; Alex Gallant
Ilya Solovyov &#8211; Nick DeSimone 
Jeremie Poirier &#8211; Colton Poolman 
Yan Kuznetsov &#8211; Josh Brook
Dustin Wolf 
Oscar Dansk
<h2>Tucson </h2>
Michael Carcone &#8211; Adam Cracknell &#8211; Hudson Elynuik 
Colin Theisen &#8211; Ryan McGregor &#8211; Nathan Smith 
Milos Kelemen &#8211; Curtis Douglas &#8211; Cameron Hebig 
Reece Vitelli &#8211; Josh Doan  
Vladislav Kolyachonok &#8211; Will Reilly 
Steven Kampfer &#8211; Cameron Crotty 
Devante Stephens &#8211; Ronald Knot
Tyler Parks 
David Tendeck
<h2>Leaders</h2>
Calgary 
Matthew Phillips &#8211; 54GP, 28G, 31A
Connor Zary &#8211; 60GP, 18G, 35A
Ben Jones &#8211; 59GP, 14G, 31A
Tucson 
Michael Carcone &#8211; 51GP, 26G, 42A
Jean-Sebastien Dea &#8211; 54GP, 19G, 24A
Laurent Dauphin &#8211; 48GP, 16G, 25A (Inactive on NHL call-up)
<h2>Notes and expectations </h2>
The Wranglers had a break from the midweek games this week and will play their first games since Sunday. They’ll look to keep things rolling as they are currently on a five-game winning streak. Their opponents have not been as fortunate as the Roadrunners have dropped their last four out of five games. There have been some players that have been standing out for the Wranglers in recent games.
Cole Schwindt has been hot and cold over the course of the season but has recently been making some large contributions for the Wranglers. He has a goal in his last three games, including the game-winner in two out of three of those games. With the Wranglers in the playoffs and just about a month away from postseason play, now is as good of a time as any to heat up on the production side of things. 
Connor Zary is also on another good point run. He’s put up five points in the last four games and further solidifies his spot as one of the top scorers on the team. Another obvious contributor has been Dustin Wolf. If you haven’t heard already, Wolf is astoundingly good this season and currently leads the league in all the major goaltending categories including wins, save percentage, GAA and shutouts.
On the other side of the rink, big news came out of the Coyotes organization as they <a href="https://www.tucsonroadrunners.com/news/strongcoyotes-sign-josh-doan-reports-to-roadrunners-strong/">announced</a> on Mar. 16 that they have signed Josh Doan to a three-year entry-level control. Doan was drafted in 2021 and has played for Arizona State University for the last two years. He will make his professional debut against the Calgary Wranglers on Friday, as confirmed by the team. 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
News: We have signed forward Josh Doan to a three-year entry-level contract, beginning with the 2023-24 NHL season. 
Doan will report to the Tucson Roadrunners (AHL) and will play his first professional game on Friday.<a href="https://t.co/DR0Ghkgpoz">https://t.co/DR0Ghkgpoz</a>
&mdash; Arizona Coyotes (@ArizonaCoyotes) <a href="https://twitter.com/ArizonaCoyotes/status/1636487800664252417?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 16, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
It’ll be an interesting match-up between teams who really aren’t overly familiar with each other despite it being the final stretch of the season. This series kicks off on Friday night in Tucson, Arizona and continues into Saturday to wrap up the Wranglers’ road trip. Both games are set to start at 8:00 p.m. MT. FlamesNation contributors Mike Gould and myself will have updates on Twitter.

The Calgary Wranglers and Tucson Roadrunners kick off a two-game series this weekend for just their second series of the 2022-23 season. They haven’t played each other since November and the season record sits at a win and a loss on each side. The Wranglers are the favourites this weekend sitting at the top spot in the Pacific. The Roadrunners sit at seventh in the Pacific. This series continues the Wranglers' road trip before they return home next weekend.


<h2>Projected lineups</h2>
Calgary

Dryden Hunt - Ben Jones - Matthew Phillips
Emilio Pettersen - Connor Zary - Cole Schwindt
Brett Sutter - Kevin Rooney - Clark Bishop
Mitch McLain - Adam Klapka - Alex Gallant

Ilya Solovyov - Nick DeSimone
Jeremie Poirier - Colton Poolman
Yan Kuznetsov - Josh Brook

Dustin Wolf
Oscar Dansk
<h2>Tucson </h2>
Michael Carcone - Adam Cracknell - Hudson Elynuik
Colin Theisen - Ryan McGregor - Nathan Smith
Milos Kelemen - Curtis Douglas - Cameron Hebig
Reece Vitelli - Josh Doan  

Vladislav Kolyachonok - Will Reilly
Steven Kampfer - Cameron Crotty
Devante Stephens - Ronald Knot

Tyler Parks
David Tendeck
<h2>Leaders</h2>
Calgary 

Matthew Phillips - 54GP, 28G, 31A

Connor Zary - 60GP, 18G, 35A

Ben Jones - 59GP, 14G, 31A

Tucson 

Michael Carcone - 51GP, 26G, 42A

Jean-Sebastien Dea - 54GP, 19G, 24A

Laurent Dauphin - 48GP, 16G, 25A (Inactive on NHL call-up)
<h2>Notes and expectations </h2>
The Wranglers had a break from the midweek games this week and will play their first games since Sunday. They’ll look to keep things rolling as they are currently on a five-game winning streak. Their opponents have not been as fortunate as the Roadrunners have dropped their last four out of five games. There have been some players that have been standing out for the Wranglers in recent games.

Cole Schwindt has been hot and cold over the course of the season but has recently been making some large contributions for the Wranglers. He has a goal in his last three games, including the game-winner in two out of three of those games. With the Wranglers in the playoffs and just about a month away from postseason play, now is as good of a time as any to heat up on the production side of things. 

Connor Zary is also on another good point run. He’s put up five points in the last four games and further solidifies his spot as one of the top scorers on the team. Another obvious contributor has been Dustin Wolf. If you haven’t heard already, Wolf is astoundingly good this season and currently leads the league in all the major goaltending categories including wins, save percentage, GAA and shutouts.

On the other side of the rink, big news came out of the Coyotes organization as they <a href="https://www.tucsonroadrunners.com/news/strongcoyotes-sign-josh-doan-reports-to-roadrunners-strong/">announced</a> on Mar. 16 that they have signed Josh Doan to a three-year entry-level control. Doan was drafted in 2021 and has played for Arizona State University for the last two years. He will make his professional debut against the Calgary Wranglers on Friday, as confirmed by the team. 

https://twitter.com/ArizonaCoyotes/status/1636487800664252417

It’ll be an interesting match-up between teams who really aren’t overly familiar with each other despite it being the final stretch of the season. This series kicks off on Friday night in Tucson, Arizona and continues into Saturday to wrap up the Wranglers’ road trip. Both games are set to start at 8:00 p.m. MT. FlamesNation contributors Mike Gould and myself will have updates on Twitter.

Series Preview: Calgary Wranglers and Tucson Roadrunners reacquainted for the weekend

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